


Code Geass: The Bond of Friendship

by TowerofBabel



Category: Code Geass
Genre: Friendship, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:15:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22334800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TowerofBabel/pseuds/TowerofBabel
Summary: After contracting a cold and a high fever, Suzaku looks after Lelouch. Then Suzaku comes down with the same illness and Lelouch has to take care of him. The bond of friendship runs deep with these two.
Relationships: Kururugi Suzaku/Lelouch Lamperouge | Lelouch vi Britannia
Comments: 7
Kudos: 44





	1. Chapter 1

**CODE GEASS: The Bond of Friendship**

**A Code Geass Story**

It started with a sneeze in class and then it got progressively worse over the course of the day — or that's how Suzaku Kururugi viewed it. Lelouch had or was in the beginning stages of getting a really bad cold. How, when, or where he may have contracted it was a mystery.

Lelouch had been sneezing and coughing all throughout the latest Student Council meeting. Suzaku had voiced his concerns, but Lelouch dismissed them — stating he was fine. "Nothing than a little Vitamin C won't cure," he had said with an innocent smile, almost jokingly.

But Suzaku knew better. And he was right.

Lelouch got worse in their latest class together. And students around him, Suzaku observed, were getting annoyed with Lelouch's symptoms. His latest coughing spasm had him sounding like he was about to cough up out a lung. They were in algebra class.

Finally the teacher had had enough. He turned aggressively from the blackboard, chalk in hand, in the midst of a mathematical equation, and said, "Enough, Lelouch! Your dedication to your school work in admirable, but you're being disruptive to the rest of the class. I sympathize that you may be sick, but go home, or see the school nurse. Either one, will do."

Lelouch looked like he was about to protest, but started to cough again, inhabiting a response.

Suzaku put up a hand to speak. "With permission, sir, I'll take him home; someone should take him back safely." Again, it looked like Lelouch was going to protest, waving a hand in the air, coughing, but he was unable to give a verbal response.

The teacher agreed.

Lelouch sneezed, coughed more, and then finally stopped, sucking in air to fill his battered lungs. He knew he wasn't going to win this fight.

Lelouch closed his books and went to stand, but when he started to wobble, even appeared to faint, Suzaku jumped out of his seat to catch his friend before Lelouch could fall.

"My head is spinning," Lelouch said. "This is so embarrassing."

"I'll get you home as quickly as possible," said Suzaku. "Everyone gets sick, even the so-called invincible Lelouch." He smiled. Suzaku then turned to the teacher, said: "Sorry about this…" The teacher seemed to understand and nodded. Turning to Rival, who was in the same class, he asked, "Can you collect his things and take them to the Student Council Room? He can get them later or I'll collect them at another time."

Rival was Treasurer of the Student Council. He nodded. "Sure," he said. "I'll also let the others know. Maybe Lelouch should go to the hospital? He looks pretty bad."

"I'll get him to his room at the Ashford Mansion, then I'll play by ear." But calling a doctor would be more prudent call, Suzaku thought. "Oh, and Nunnally should be told. I don't think she's not on campus today, but I forget where…" Rival reminded him. And Suzaku nodded. "Thanks."

* * *

After everything was said and done, Suzaku escorted Lelouch out of the class, and subsequently back to his room in the Ashford Mansion that wasn't far off campus. He then helped him into his bedroom and into bed. "Maybe I should call a doctor?" Suzaku wondered to himself.

Suzaku turned to make the call from a phone that was on the bedside table. Lelouch lightly grabbed Suzaku's hand and then muttered something almost incomprehensible, dreamily. But Suzaku didn't need to hear Lelouch's voice to understand. He read Lelouch's lips.

Lelouch said, "Thank you."

Suzaku brushed a string of Lelouch's mop top, jet black hair, out of his boyish face, and then felt his forehead. Lelouch had a high a fever and he was sweating profusely.

He left Lelouch for a minute, and then returned, bringing a bowl filled with cold water and a cloth, applying a cold compress to Lelouch's forehead.

"You're burning up," Suzaku said.

He noticed a stand alone tall rotating fan near by and it was positioned, pointed at Lelouch's bed; too close, in fact. The weather has been warm lately. Perhaps Lelouch had it blowing on him at night? _He sweats, it cools, and then causes irritation in the skin, and then an infection. It's a common occurrence_ , Suzaku concluded. _And it's happened to me more than once_. So, how Lelouch got the cold was solved, sensibly. Now it was time to bring his fever down.

Suzaku undressed his friend and tucked Lelouch under the sheets, and continued to apply cold compresses to Lelouch's forehead. Then he also did the same to his arms, chest and torso. He needed to settle the fever down.

* * *

It had been a long night, but finally at around three o'clock in the morning Lelouch's fever broke.

Suzaku sat back in a chair next to the bed he had been using and sighed softly, wiping sweat from his brow. The bond of friendship is stronger than any other and he wouldn't be much of a friend if he wasn't here for his friend.

He sighed a deeper breath of relief. Now he could relax. He had been so on edge trying to bring Lelouch's fever down, he hadn't slept all night.

"Thank god you're going to all right," he said softly, as Lelouch slept soundly in his bed. He hadn't been able to contact a doctor who made house calls, so he had to take care of Lelouch himself. With Lelouch resting comfortably, Suzaku suddenly found himself totally exhausted. His eyes heavy, he tried to stay awake, but his energy faded fast.

But there was no need to stay awake anymore, Lelouch was fine. And his adrenaline was gone. Suzaku leaned back in his chair and passed out.

* * *

Early the next morning Suzaku was startled awake with a hand touching his shoulder. Lelouch stood over him and he was smiling. Suzaku smiled back sleepily.

"You've been here the whole night?" asked Lelouch.

Suzaku nodded. "You had a really bad fever and I couldn't find a doctor who did house calls. I didn't want to leave you alone. Nunnally is away, and there was no one else. Even your maid isn't around. Where is she?"

"She's away for two days on an errand. Since Nunnally is away, I didn't need her." Lelouch, looking around, almost confused. "What happened? For the life of me I can't remember how I got here."

"I helped you home from school and then got you into bed. I hope you don't mind, I undressed you. You were sweating a lot. I cooled you down with cold compresses."

Lelouch smiled back. "So that's why all these towels are around. No, I don't mind what you did. Thank you, Suzaku. You're a good friend. I feel much better."

"I'm relieved," Suzaku said. "But I think you should call in sick today just to be on the safe side. And what are you doing up? You need rest or you'll exhaust yourself."

"I just went to the restroom." Lelouch sat down on his bed. "This cold hit me harder than anything I ever felt. I was fine yesterday morning before school."

"These things just happen," said Suzaku. "My theory is you got it from that fan blowing on you all night." He gestured to it.

Lelouch mused. "I'll try and watch that, but it has been exceptionally warm lately. Thanks again."

"You're welcome. You're my friend. I'm sure you'd do the same for me."

Lelouch nodded with a smile.

All of a sudden, Suzaku sneezed.

Lelouch said, "Oh no. That's how it started for me. Let me get you some vitamin C."

And Suzaku laughed.

_**END** _


	2. Part 2

"Suzaku, don't be a baby," Lelouch said, as he sat next to his bedside. "Are all soldiers whiny toddlers when they get sick like you?"

Lelouch crossed one leg over a knee as he tried to read a text book for class, he had missed a lot of lessons when he was sick. It wasn't about the content, he knew it already, but it was just something to partake as he looked after his friend.

Suzaku had helped him recover, bedridden for nearly three days, but then Suzaku got sick, contracted the same cold. So, it was only fair to pay the favour in kind.

Suzaku moaned, as he turned over in bed. They were in Lelouch's bedroom, in his loft at Ashford Academy. Suzaku was highly contagious, so he had to remain in the room. Even Nunnally couldn't see him, which meant Lelouch, as well. He was still a carrier.

"I'm not a baby," replied Suzaku.

Lelouch huffed. He slammed the book shut and it made Suzaku jump. "Time to take your temperature," Lelouch said. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way? Either way would suit me. But the latter won't be pleasant."

Suzaku groaned and turns to Lelouch. Lelouch took a glass thermoter from a glass of water on a nightstand near by, shook it, thrn stuck it in Suzaku's mouth. Suzaku took it and was told not to bite down on it , slip it under his tongue, and let it sit—until Lelouch said otherwise.

"Good, that should hush you up for awhile," said Lelouch, and smiled. Suzaku eyed him suspiciously.

Suzaku looked at him, balancing on an elbow, then he suddenly gave him a series of hand signals that Lelouch understood. He knew they were military signs, and Suzaku was trying to tell him something.

As Zero, Lelouch knew what those signs meant, as Lelouch, he shouldn't have a clue, so he faked ignorance. He knew Suzaku had been planted at the academy to determine if Lelouch was more than meets the eye. Suzaku was ordered to determine if Lelouch was the notorious terrorist called Zero.

Lelouch cocked his head, then, because of some lessons in sign language during a course at the academy, a little extra curricular before he became Zero, he signed back, asking a question.

Suzaku looked at him strangely. He blinked confused. Lelouch asked him the question: "What are you saying?" He noticed his friends befuddlement. "I don't understand those signs, Suzaku. I took a minute course in Sign a year ago, just for fun. But I don't recognize those gestures."

Suzaku smiled. His test had not slipped Lelouch up. But Suzaku did ask a very pertinent question, and thanks to his time with Kallen and the Black Knights, he knew how to read military gestures. But why was Suzaku asking if he knew an zebra? He must have mixed up the signs, or maybe it was on purpose to correct him. He figured he meant to sign "zero" and not zebra.

Lelouch took the thermoter out of Suzaku's mouth and saw he still had a high fever. Lelouch felt his friend's forehead to double check. No doubt, he asked that question in part because he wasn't thinking straight.

"Lay back down, Suzaku, you're still running a high temperature," Lelouch said. Suzaku did and his eyes seemed to roll into the back of his head. Lelouch ringed out a cold compress in a bowl and placed it on Suzaku's forehead.

"Lelouch, thank you," Suzaku said. "I know how much this is an inconvenience to you and you've already missed so much school."

"You forget, I get better marks than you, so you better worry about yourself. Besides, the teacher couriered over some homework and material to read for when you get better. I took the liberty to complete all the assignments for you, with a few purposeful mistakes, so the teacher doesn't suspect someone else did it for you." Lelouch chuckled.

Suzaku let out a snorted laugh. "Thanks," he said. "But you didn't have to. I'm a member of the military, so I get an exemption anyway. A few missed assignments means little."

"You never know what can be important later in life, so don't sell school short. Something learned might come in handy one day, like…how to calculate to the closest number of pi, or determining differential geometric spacial coordinates between planetary bodies, or, as Nunnally would say, how much pizza can a person eat before they need a stomach pump?"

Suzaku laughed, then coughed. "Don't make me laugh, Lelouch, my stomach hurts." He then breathed out and relaxed. "You were sick for three days, this is going on four for me. And you've done things for me that no one else would do." He cast his eyes away. "You've even cleaned up after me when I messed the bed. That stays between us, okay?"

"My lips are sealed. Besides, it would be the urination of you if it got out."

Suzaku laughed again. "Don't," he said. "I know laughter it the best medicine, but it hurts. You're a good friend, Lelouch. Don't stop being you, okay?"

Lelouch had no response to that. What did Suzaku mean? Or was he just hallucinating? His fever was high.

"I have zero notion in abandoning my principles, Suzaku, and you know why," Lelouch said. To bring down Britianna.

Suzaku nodded, but his eyes were closed. "I know, but don't let it change you into some sort of villain, okay? I may not be as smart as you, frankly, not even close, but there's an old saying: You can live long enough to die a hero, or you can live long enough to see yourself become a villain. Don't let your hate rule you. I know the Emperca, your father, doesn't care much for you, but there are other people, like me, who do. What I'm trying to say it, keep true to yourself. Never waver."

"I am, Suzaku, and I will never waver," said Lelouch seriously. "And the same goes for you. You can be too naïve and honest for your own good, but you're the only person I have ever truly trusted. Never stop giving me advise."

Suzaku nodded, but it seemed he had fallen into a restful sleep.

Lelouch removed the compress from Suzaku's forehead and placed it back into the bowl.

He then stood up and looked down at his friend, now sleeping. "Never, ever, will I waver from my goal, Suzaku, and you should know that better than anyone. Zero will win."

End


End file.
